Eric Clayton (born December 1, 1967) is an American singer, best known for his work in the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

gothic metal Gothic metal (or goth metal) is a fusion genre combining the aggression of heavy metal music, heavy metal with the dark atmospheres of gothic rock. The music of gothic metal is diverse with bands known to adopt the gothic approach to different ...

group

Saviour Machine Saviour Machine is an American Christian gothic metal band that formed in 1989. They have released five studio albums and two live albums on Frontline and subsequently on MCM Music, distributed through Massacre Records. Saviour Machine's music ...

which he formed with his brother Jeff Clayton in 1989. Eric Clayton is known for his deep

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

operatic vocals, and is known for his theatrical live performances and dark, peculiar appearances and masks.

Career

Saviour Machine

Eric Clayton's most ambitious work has been Saviour Machine, which released two studio albums ''Saviour Machine I'' (1993) and ''Saviour Machine II'' (1994) before starting the ''Legend'' trilogy that strictly focuses on the

end times Eschatology (; ) concerns expectations of the end of present age, human history, or the world itself. The end of the world or end times is predicted by several world religions (both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic), which teach that negative world ...

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation, also known as the Book of the Apocalypse or the Apocalypse of John, is the final book of the New Testament, and therefore the final book of the Bible#Christian Bible, Christian Bible. Written in Greek language, Greek, ...

and prophecies about the biblical

apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

. The band has also released a compilation album titled ''Synopsis'' (2003), the live albums ''Live in Deutschland 1995'' and ''Live in Deutschland 2002''. Both were also filmed and released on VHS and DVD format. The band was originally signed to Christian metal label

Frontline Records Frontline Records was a Christian rock record label, founded in 1986 by James Kempner in Santa Ana, California. The label focused primarily on modern rock, rap, dance-pop and hip-hop. The label closed in the early 1990s, and then resurfaced in ...

but gothic metal in all its visual appearance was misunderstood in US Christian scenes, and eventually Saviour Machine began work with MCM Music and

Massacre Records Massacre Records is an independent record label based in Abstatt, Germany, specializing in bands from the heavier genres of metal. The label was founded in 1991 by Torsten Hartmann. Associated with Massacre Records are the marketing and music ...

, labels based in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

where the band was more popular than in US. In 1997 Saviour Machine performed at

Wacken Open Air Wacken Open Air (, abbreviated as W:O:A) is a Heavy metal music, heavy metal music festival, held annually since 1990 on the first weekend of August in the village of Wacken, Schleswig-Holstein, Wacken in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. Almost all ...

, the biggest exclusively metal music festival in the world. Clayton had been working on and off on the last album in the ''Legend'' series, ''Legend Part III:II'', which should have been the last Saviour Machine album. The album was supposed to be released on July 7, 2007, but was postponed due to Clayton's esophageal condition called

Barrett's Esophagus Barrett's esophagus is a condition in which there is an abnormal ( metaplastic) change in the mucosal cells that line the lower part of the esophagus. The cells change from stratified squamous epithelium to simple columnar epithelium, intersper ...

which was diagnosed in 2004 but eventually got worse. During the downtime of Saviour Machine, Clayton occasionally performed guest vocals and produced albums by other bands. Clayton compiled ''The Collective Journals'' (1997–2009) released in 2010 available at the band website, but soon after performing a handful of unplugged Saviour Machine-shows in The Netherlands and Germany. In 2012, he performed the voice of the "Ratking" in the animated film, ''Strawinsky and the Mysterious House''. The Animator/Producer/Director of the film, David Hutter, revealed on the film's website that he is a fan of Saviour Machine. In 2013, Clayton officially broke up Savior Machine, abandoned the unfinished Legend-project, and retired from the music business. Following the death of

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

in 2016, Eric started a project with his brother Jeff, to record and digitally release a Bowie cover song once a month for a year, in tribute. This collaboration has led to the writing of potential new Saviour Machine material.

Post-Saviour Machine

Two years after the dissolution of Saviour Machine, in 2015, Clayton committed to playing at Ayreon's Theater Equation shows in Holland in September, reprising his role as "Reason" from the 2004 album ''

The Human Equation ''The Human Equation'' is the sixth album from the progressive rock project Ayreon by Dutch musician Arjen Anthony Lucassen, released on 25 May 2004 via Inside Out Music. As with other Ayreon albums, it features guest appearances from several m ...

''. In 2018 he finally returned to music properly, starting a new band called Eric Clayton And The Nine for a European tour. The band consists of Eric and five Dutch musicians, performing the early Saviour Machine repertoire. In 2020 Eric releases his first solo album called 'A Thousand Scars', written together with his brother, Adam Pederson, Ludo Caanen and Twan Bakker. All lyrics written by Eric Clayton and music performed by 'The Nine', produced and mixed by Devon Graves (

Psychotic Waltz Psychotic Waltz is an American progressive metal band formed in El Cajon, California, in 1988. History The first incarnation of the band was under the name Aslan, named after a character in the novel ''The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'' by ...

). The album contains 15 tracks (79 minutes).

Vocal style and live performance

Clayton's vocals can simply be described as

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

tic. His voice ranges from high

tenor A tenor is a type of male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. Composers typically write music for this voice in the range from the second B below m ...

to low

to occasionally the deep basso, and is typically filled with dark emotions. On ''Legend'' trilogy as well as on some guest performances he utilized cinematic, narrative speaking vocals. On Saviour Machine's concerts, Clayton performs several theatrical and symbolic gestures. He typically paints his face in a way that it resembles an iconic theatre mask, and wears a peculiar forehead jewel as well as black clothes. Some of his live performances include wearing an American flag during the songs "Legion" and "American Babylon", dipping the Israeli and Palestinian flag into blood, wearing devices that resemble demon wings, and other gestures with separate masks, candles, chains, statues etc. Clayton's lyrics are deeply spiritual, and on the first two album's include themes ranging from salvation to melodramatic, horror oriented

dark romanticism Dark Romanticism is a literary sub-genre of Romanticism, reflecting popular fascination with the irrational, the demonic and the grotesque. Often conflated with Gothic fiction, it has shadowed the euphoric Romantic movement ever since its 18th-cen ...

on songs such as "Legion". As the first album was banned from Christian bookstores due to a certain line in that song, Clayton has somewhat humorously criticized the Christian music scene for its hypocritical manners on songs such as "Ascension of Heroes."Eric Clayton's Liner notes on Saviour Machine - Synopsis booklet, 2003, mas cd0298, Massacre Records. retrieved on October 21, 2007

Discography

Saviour Machine Eric Clayton Guest appearances

References

External links

Official website Saviour Machine

Official website Eric Clayton and the Nine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clayton, Eric 1967 births American heavy metal singers American male singer-songwriters American rock songwriters Living people